"After getting his by his parent's newest invention, Danny discovers he is trapped in Phantom form and can't change back." - Prompt by UnluckyAlis
Also yes I said that the last one was gonna be my last entry for the Phight but my brain punched me in the face with another idea so I ended up writing this anyway.
I forgot like almost everything I wanted to include in this fic but today's the last day of the Phight so I ended up forcing myself to finish it anyway. It feels a little disjointed in places but maybe that's just my brain screaming at me to go back to my game.
Writing a post-reveal fic was fun though. Like I include bits of it often enough in my reveal fics but, idk. This felt different, somehow. Purer, if there is no shadow of the whole reveal thing hanging over them?
A bright flash blinded Danny, and he braced himself for a painful impact. Surprisingly, it didn't come. He peeked between the fingers of his white gloves, right at the weapon still pointed at him.
"Uh. I don't think it worked," he muttered, as his parents' faces paled further.
His dad lowered the weapon, flipping open a panel to check. "It definitely fired, though. Mads, check him over just to be sure."
"But I'm fine!" Danny exclaimed as he lowered himself closer to the floor anyway and submitted to his mom's worried examination. "It didn't even hurt or anything!"
"It wasn't designed to hurt, sweetie." His mom carefully inspected him, rubbing over his chest – the impact site, apparently – and even asking him to unzip his jumpsuit. Underneath it, his skin wasn't even bruised. Nothing showed that he had been hit.
"See," he waved a hand demonstratively, "Totally fine. No need to worry or fret, okay?"
"But that doesn't make sense!" His dad waved the invention around, and Maddie pulled it from his hands before he damaged it. "It should've worked!"
Seeing the glare his wife was shooting him, he added, "Not that I wanted to hurt you, Danny-boy, but–"
"It's fine." Danny shot him an understanding grin, one which doubled as a soothing one for his mom. "Accidents happen. I shouldn't have dropped in so unexpectedly – I should've known that I would startle you two."
"And we should know better than to shoot first and look later." His mom looked off-put, but she sighed and relaxed a little. "We got lucky this time, but it shouldn't have happened."
"Why were you coming down anyway, kiddo?" His dad had perked up a little now that it was clear no one had gotten hurt. "Important ghost business?"
"Uh, no." Danny's grin turned sheepish as he started to rub the back of his neck. "Jazz wanted to know what we were doing for dinner."
"Couldn't you just have used the stairs?" His mom looked at him, her expression somewhere between intrigued and perplexed. "Why were you in your ghost form anyway?"
"Jazz said that it was good for people – for you – to see me hanging out as Phantom." He scuffed his boot on the floor, for once not floating in his ghost form. "Something about connecting the ways you saw me or something?"
She accepted this answer with a nod. If Jazz said it, it was likely right – and she was pretty sure it was, anyway. She hadn't seen Danny in his ghost form a lot – it was still hard to think of him as Danny instead of Phantom. "And the phasing through the ceiling instead of using the stairs?"
"I, uh, didn't really think about it." Danny dropped the hand from his neck and shrugged. "I use my powers all the time, even in human form. Phasing through the door instead of opening it, floating down the stairs so they don't creak, lighting a ball of ectoplasm instead of turning on the lights…"
"Fascinating," his dad mumbled, and Danny abruptly remembered that the man was there, too. "Your powers are so easily accessible even in your human form that you use them so casually?"
"Yeah, pretty much." He floated over closer to his dad, so that he was more easily included in the conversation. "My core never leaves, human or ghost. And when I first became half-ghost, I kept accidentally using my powers in human form, not in ghost form. I guess it just comes naturally."
His mom shook her head. "I still can't believe that we missed it for all these years."
Danny opened his mouth to answer with one of his usual replies – assurance that it wasn't their fault, that he had hidden it, etc – but she held up her hand and quietened him before he started. "It's alright Danny. It was a stray thought, nothing serious." Then she smiled at him. "We'll do pizza for dinner, okay sweetie? Go and tell your sister – and use the stairs this time, please."
"Alright alright." He planted his feet back on the floor and triggered his transformation back to human form.
No flash of light came.
He frowned, tried again. Still nothing.
"Are you okay?" his dad asked, leaning closer. "You're just… standing there."
Danny looked at his clenched fists – still covered by the white gloves of his jumpsuit. "I can't shift back." He poked the ball of warmth in his chest – it was still there, just… idle. Like his core whenever he got hit with the Plasmius Maximus. He didn't even know it was possible to lock his human form away like this. "I can still feel my human side, but I can't switch to it."
"That… makes sense." His mom wandered closer, still holding the invention. "This was supposed to stop a ghost from using their powers – temporarily, of course. But it only worked on your ability to transform, rather than your ghostly ones."
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "How long was it supposed to last?"
"Not sure," his dad admitted with a shrug. "Anywhere between a day and a week, depending on a number of factors. Strength of the ghost, how close to the core we hit, all of that stuff."
"So it won't be over before school tomorrow?" Danny groaned, dragging his hands down his face. "Of course. And you won't let me stay home, will you?"
His mom shook her head. "No sweetie, you already miss enough classes as-is. We can't let you stay home over something like this."
"I figured," he mumbled, lifting off of the floor. Might as well fly over to Jazz to tell her they were having pizza, since that was what started this whole thing.
"And use the stairs, young man!" his mom yelled, moments before he passed through the ceiling.
With another sigh he re-angled himself, flying through the stairway instead.
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Danny eyed the closed locker in front of him speculatively. Then, figuring that he had noting to lose, turned his arm intangible and stuck it right through.
He was still digging for his books when Sam and Tucker joined him, leaning on the lockers to either side of him.
"Didya forget something, dude?" Tucker asked, quirking an eyebrow at him. "I know you're not hiding anymore, but this is going a little far, even for you."
Danny sighed, pulling the last books out of the locker. "My parents accidentally hit me with one of their new inventions yesterday. I'm locked out of my human form for anywhere between a day and a week, or so my dad says."
Sam sucked in air through her teeth. "And they wouldn't let you stay home, huh? That sucks."
"Mom said I miss enough class with my ghost hunting anyway." He flung the backpack over his shoulder again. "Which is fair, but still. I'm not really excited about the prospect of going to class as Danny Phantom."
"What are the chances that the teachers will give you detention for being a distraction?" Tucker shot him a shit-eating grin, leading the group towards Lancer's classroom. The bell would ring soon, anyway.
Danny grumbled wordlessly. Then, almost impossible to hear, he added, "At least mom wrote a note explaining it."
"So that'll be about 50% of the teachers, got it." Tucker swung his PDA around. "I'll keep track for you so you can sue them for discrimination."
"On what basis?" Danny frowned at his friend, ignoring the wide-eyed glances he was starting to receive as more and more people filled the hallways. "Being a ghost? I don't think that that counts."
"I'm sure that I can think of something," Sam assured with a smile so evil Danny almost shivered.
Thankfully he was saved from having to answer by both the bell and the fact that they reached Mr. Lancer's classroom. They entered immediately, Sam and Tucker moving to their seats. Danny stopped by the teacher's desk, instead.
"Mister… Fenton," Lancer said, tone tired and clearly barely repressing a groan. "What can I help you with?"
Danny pulled the note out of his pocket and offered it to the teacher. "I, uh. Accident in my parents' lab, so I can't shift back. Mom wrote a note explaining it."
The teacher read over it once, then again. Then with a sigh he handed it back. "Very well. Take a seat and try not to distract the class."
"I'll do my best," Danny said, grinning. He wandered over to his usual desk and plopped into the seat. More quietly, to Sam and Tucker, he added, "Not that it'll make much of a difference."
"No kidding," Sam muttered, eyes narrowing into a glare as Paulina entered the classroom. The girl was followed by a horde of other girls, of course, but none of those mattered in comparison. It was Paulina who had had a shrine dedicated to Phantom in her locker – even though she had thankfully taken it down after the reveal.
The girl visibly perked up when she spotted Danny. He, in turn, sunk down lower into his seat – and barely repressed his automatic reaction to phase through it to sink deeper.
"Ghost boy!" she chirped, moving towards him instead of her seat. She might've taken down the shrine, but she still harbored strong feelings for Danny. Luckily, like most people she seemed to struggle with connecting his ghostly persona with his human form, even knowing that they were one and the same.
Unfortunately, that meant that he had to deal with the full force of her adoration – at least until he could shift back to human again.
"Paulina," he greeted with a shaky grin. He tried to peer around her and make eye contact with Lancer – hoping that the man would shoo her off and into her seat. Unfortunately, Mr. Lancer seemed to be too occupied with his papers to notice. "Shouldn't you, uh, get to your seat? Before the class starts?"
She ignored the suggestion and leaned on his desk instead, somehow blinking flirtatiously at him. "What are you doing here, mi amor?"
Danny blinked at her disbelievingly. "I… am part of this class? I'm here every day, unless there's a ghost?"
Thankfully Lancer had finally noticed his plight, and came over. "Miss Sanchez, if you could stop distracting your fellow students and sit down, that would be wonderful."
She shot Mr. Lancer a glare, then cast a longing look over at Danny, and then finally sat down. Danny couldn't wait for this stupid invention to wear off. He was already so done with this stupid thing.
And here he had been, thinking that he had been getting a lot of attention ever since revealing his identity. Apparently it was still better in his human form, despite everyone knowing he was Phantom. Imagine that.
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The rest of the classes went… Well, they weren't normal, by any means, but it went alright, at least. A lot of the others still looked at Danny, but he could ignore their stares well enough. The only real problem had been when they had tried to watch a video during Chemistry – Danny's eyes started glowing even brighter once the lights went off, which was apparently quite distracting to everyone else.
And there was, of course, lunch. When he had walked into the cafeteria, the entire room had shushed – but then his ghost sense went off and he spend the entire break catching Technus.
And now he sat in the locker room, Tucker by his side, staring at his gym clothes thoughtfully.
"Dude, just put them on." Tucker was lacing up his own shoes. Everyone else had already left – Danny had waited until the locker room was mostly empty on purpose. "You know what Tetslaff is like. She'll make you wear them anyway – might as well avoid the fight."
Danny snorted. "Yes, because I make a habit out of avoiding fights." Still, he complied and started peeling off his gloves.
"Don't I know it," Tucker grumbled in response. He straightened his beret – why did they let him wear that thing, anyway? – and pointed towards the doors into the gym. "I'll tell Tetslaff that you're on your way. And, uh, that you're stuck in ghost form and all that."
"Thanks Tuck." Danny looked away from the pile of ghostly hazmat he was acquiring to shoot his friend a grateful look. "Try not to get killed."
"If I do I'll just come back as a ghost!" he shouted back as he left the locker room.
Still smiling, Danny carefully freed himself from his suit. It wasn't exactly designed to be easy to put on or remove, and while that normally wasn't a problem for Danny… Well, he was finding a lot of problems he didn't normally run into, anyway.
Like how he had spent the entire day struggling to stay grounded. And forcing his legs to stay legs, instead of dissolving into a ghostly tail.
Having finally changed into his gym outfit, Danny tried to sneak into the classroom unnoticed. Unfortunately, his gym clothes did little to dampen his natural glow – and once someone caught sight of his scars, their shout alerted the rest of the class as well.
"Mr. Fenton," Tetslaff snapped, gesturing for him to come closer. "How nice of you to finally join us…" she trailed off into silence, apparently having seen his scars as well.
Dash, unlike most of the class who had gone quiet, decided to go loud, instead. "Hey Fenton, what the hell are those?"
"They're scars, Dash." Danny rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, hoping not to come across as defensive as he was feeling. "You know what scars are, right?"
The boy spluttered, clearly grasping for a reply that was at least as insulting as Danny's. Kwan spoke up instead. "But where did they come from? And why are they… green?"
Danny waved a hand over himself, demonstratively. "Um, they're green because I'm a ghost. Ectoplasmic flesh is green, and so is ectoplasmic blood. Therefore, scars are green instead of red." Then he paused, considering his words for a moment. "And as you might tell from the fact that they're faded, they're not new. They're from the accident that turned me half-ghost."
"Then why haven't we seen them before?" Mikey asked, a note of genuine curiosity in his voice. Now that the question was asked, more voices started repeating it, demanding an answer.
"I've always had them." Danny frowned, shooting a quick glance at Tetslaff in the hopes that she would call the class into silence. But, unfortunately, she seemed content to listen to his explanation as well. "But only as Phantom. You can't usually see them, though, because I always wear my jumpsuit in ghost form, and that covers up most of my body."
"Well!" A large hand landed on his shoulder, and Danny stiffened – and almost reflexively charged an ectoblast. "Now that this fantastic Q&A session is over, why don't we get back to gym class, huh?"
Tetslaff pushed him back towards the class, and Danny quickly sidled up next to Tucker and Sam. "Today we're running a standard training course. We're starting with timed laps around the room, and some hurdle jumping after. Any questions so far?"
She completely ignored the raised hands, instead storming on in her explanation. "No? Good. First ones up are you guys." She pointed at a few students – including Dash and Danny. "Get your asses to the starting lines already!"
Danny grumbled under his breath, but trudged over to the line anyway. At least he didn't have to pretend be less athletic than he really was, now. Even if he wasn't all that great at running, anyway. Stamina? Sure. But actual running speed?
Well, he never tested that, but still. He flew everywhere. Danny was pretty sure that he walked less now that he was half-ghost, not more.
Tetslaff whistled for them to start, and he burst off. His sneakers felt weird on his feet – wearing regular clothes always felt weird in ghost form – but they didn't hinder his movement. The rhythmic pounding of his shoes on the floor of the gym felt good – sounded good.
Then he surpassed Dash and felt a smirk crawling up. Actually, you know what? This felt even better.
Danny crossed the finish line as the first of his group – and by wide margin, too. The teacher eyed him appreciatively, noting down his time on her clipboard. "Would you look at that, you really have been holding back on us, Fenton."
Dash finally crossed the line, and scoffed in-between breaths. "Yeah, duh. Have you seen Phantom fight?"
"He says, like it came with being half-ghost," Danny muttered, intending for only Sam and Tucker to hear it. Unfortunately he forgot how many of his classmates paid attention to him nowadays, and most of them seemed to have overheard it.
"Didn't it?" Valerie asked, apparently genuinely curious. Her eyes scanned him, up and down, clearly locking on his lean muscles. "You actually worked out, Danny?"
His aura flickered brighter in annoyance. "Sam made me," he finally admitted. The green that crept over his cheeks definitely wasn't out of embarrassment, no sir!
A loud clap from Tetslaff interrupted the conversation before it could continue, however. "Alright, break it up! Next runners are up."
She led the next students to the starting line, and Danny took this chance to move to a quieter corner. Most of his classmates took the signal for what it was and left him alone – even when Sam and later Tucker were called away to do their runs.
Unfortunately the peace couldn't last, as Tetslaff called him forward again when everyone had had their run. Now, it was time to run with obstacles.
Now this, Danny knew, he could do. He actually jumped a lot, both in human and ghost forms. It was simply convenient for quick shifts – jumping off of somewhere tall or just straight-up jumping up meant that he could fly off right after shifting.
And, having already finished his regular run, he knew he could do that pretty well, too. So, really, there was no reason for him to do badly at a combination. Right?
The starting signal went off, and once again, Danny shot away from the line. He maintained a steady run, kept his eye on the first hurdle coming up. There were two more right after, and he was mentally calculating if he could clear them in one go or not–
First hurdle, strong push with his leg, and off the ground he went. Second and third hurdle flew by as well, and Danny quickly made his way to the finish line.
Miss Tetslaff eyed his critically, then heaved a weary sigh.
"Mr. Fenton," she said. "You are aware of the fact that you were supposed to run this course?"
"Um." Hadn't he? He turned around to look at the course, very sure that he had, at least, started with his feet on the ground. In doing so, however, he noticed that he was definitely floating now. "I… Oh. How, uh. How long have I been flying?"
"You didn't notice?" Dash exclaimed, this time having witnessed the whole thing since he wasn't in the same group. "Are you serious, Fenton?"
He flushed green again and opened his mouth to reply, but Sam cut in before he could. "Flying comes naturally to ghosts, Dash. Plus, have you ever seen Phantom not float?"
Tetslaff shook her head but noted down the time anyway. "Doesn't matter anyway," she decided, with a quiet grumble to her voice. "We have no one to compare his data to anyway, and we can't have him compete either."
Which they had, apparently, seriously considered. Even though 1) that would've been cheating, since Danny wasn't human, and 2) Danny didn't have the time for it. Seriously, he couldn't even keep up with school! How would on Earth would he make time for sports? Also why? He genuinely had better things to do.
Sam and Tucker ribbed at him, of course, for accidentally flying his lap instead of running it, but thankfully no one else gave him trouble. And so the rest of gym class passed by without further problems, too.
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Danny laid on his desk, head resting on his folded arms. Sure, he should be paying attention to Mr. Lancer. But the teacher was just so boring, and he was so tired. He hadn't slept well last night – several ghost attacks had interrupted him as always. And sleeping in his jumpsuit proved to be more difficult than he had expected, too.
So now here he was, almost asleep during English class. Blinking very slowly – but making sure to open his eyes again every time. He didn't want to fall asleep, but… it was very tempting.
Lancer was keeping an eye on him, though. Despite the man knowing about the cause of his troubles – or perhaps because of it – he continued to push Danny. It was probably well-intentioned, but sometimes Danny just wished the man would stop.
Not that he said that out loud, though. Everyone in Amity knew not to make wishes – and even if he worded it differently, Danny didn't want to hurt Lancer's feelings. Especially if the man was just trying to be nice, or do the right thing.
"Mr. Fenton," the teacher called, and Danny almost didn't squash the groan he wanted to give.
Instead he mumbled a wordless reply. Pushed himself up a little further, the glow of his eyes making them look sharper than he really was. "Myeah?"
"Could you tell us the answer to the question, please?"
His eyes moved from the teacher to the board he was standing next to. It was, surprisingly, a question he knew the answer to. For once, he had read the book – and remembered enough about it, too.
So, naturally, he gave the answer the teacher was looking for.
"Excuse me?" Lancer asked, looking confused and somewhat thrown off.
Danny repeated his answer, frowning. He was sure that he was right, so why was Lancer acting so weird?
Sam nudged him, and he looked over at her with a brow quirked. "You're speaking in ghost, Danny," she explained.
"Oh," he said. "Uh, sorry." He turned back to Mr. Lancer and repeated, once again, the answer – this time making sure he stuck to English.
The teacher shook his head in exasperation. "Yes, that is correct. Thank you Mr. Fenton, and please try to stick to English next time."
He ducked his head, cold crawling up to his cheeks – blushing green once again. "Uh, yeah. Sorry."
Seeing that the teacher was distracted, Valerie leaned over to his desk. "Does that happen often?"
"Slipping into ghost?" he asked, sinking down on his arms again. "Usually only when I'm in ghost form, and even then only when I'm tired or distracted."
She nodded, scribbling something down in her notebook. Seeing the motion, he cocked his head at the book. "Keeping notes, Val?"
"Yeah," she carelessly admitted, looking back at him. "Someone has to. Besides, Dani keeps dropping by and knowing more about you translates into knowing more about her."
Valerie toyed with the pen in her hands. "Can… humans learn that? Ghost, I mean? Or is it a language of the dead only?"
"Ask Sam or Tuck." Danny shrugged, not that it was very visible since he was still lying down. "It comes naturally to me – sounds just like English, too."
Another nod. A soft scratching as she noted down this, too. At the front, Lancer had fallen silent.
Danny risked a look over and saw that they were supposed to be reading, now. He opened his book, eyes aimed at it but not actually reading. He wouldn't remember any of it, anyway. Not with how sleepy he was.
Besides, he was warm and surprisingly comfy. Surrounded by his three best friends, who would surely keep his safe – even if he was in danger, which he wasn't.
"Are you purring," Valerie hissed, incredulous.
"No," he protested, not even bothering to prop himself up or to stop the rumbling coming from him. "I'm not a cat, I don't purr."
She looked at him, skeptically. Sam now also leaned in closer – glancing at Lancer to make sure he didn't notice – and added, "His core hums when he's content. You just usually can't tell because the flesh of his human form mutes it."
"In other words–" Tucker shot Valerie a grin as he, too, joined the conversation. "–it's absolutely purring."
Danny groaned, but didn't say anything. He stood no chance against the combined forces of his friends.
And so, content and surrounded by the soft voices of his friends, Danny Fenton-Phantom fell asleep.
Still purring, of course.